Previously, some exemplary V/STOL aircrafts are: CH-47 Chinook helicopter (FIG. 1) with counter-rotating twin-rotor, V-22 Osprey (FIG. 2) with wing-tip mounted counter-rotating twin-rotor and AV-8B Harrier II featuring a single turbofan engine with two intakes and four thrust-vectoring nozzles. Helicopter in general has a long history and is improved overtime, and now it's near its limits. One disadvantage of helicopter is that its horizontal speed is limited comparing to conventional fixed wing aircraft. The wing spans of V-22 Osprey type of V/STOL aircrafts are usually limited due to the fact that as the wing span becomes longer, it becomes harder to maintain enough mechanic structure strength to support wing tip mounted heavy rotors without adding a lot of weight penalty. Limited wing span limits lift generated by the wing in horizontal flight, and results in lower efficiency in horizontal flight. AV-8B Harrier II type of V/STOL aircrafts uses jet engine. One of objectives of the present invention is to be able to use wide range of power plants including electric engine, internal combustion engine and jet engine.
Wings are usually main parts of an airframe. A pair of swept wings generally results in V-shape. There are 2 types of swept wings: swept-back wing and forward-swept wing. Swept wings, especially swept-back wings, are widely used in modern aircrafts with high horizontal flight speed. Swept and un-swept wings generally provide lift, store fuel and hold aerodynamic controls such as flap, aileron and elevator. A special type of wing, Chaplin V-Wing (FIG. 3A to 3E) with boundary-layer-controlled thick-suction airfoil can also hold cargo and passengers. Chaplin V-Wing aircraft is envisioned for horizontal takeoff and landing. Its engines are mounted right after head of the V-shape. While all the above mentioned functions of wings can still applied to the wings used in the present invention, the present invention primarily utilizes the space enclosed by swept wings to dispose thrust-generating devices such as propellers, ducted fan and jet nozzles. Beside V-shape, the present invention also utilizes other shapes such as X-shape. When multiple vehicles are combined or connected together to form a larger composite aircraft, the number of resulted shapes is almost endless.